Written Answers Tuesday 17 January 2006

Scottish Executive

Autism

Carolyn Leckie (Central Scotland) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-12071 by Rhona Brankin on 24 December 2004 and in light of the conference on autism held in Aviemore in November 2005, what the full range of medical interventions considered for people on the autistic spectrum was and how many of these medical interventions will now be recommended for people on the autistic spectrum as a result of the conference.

Lewis Macdonald: This conference, organised by the Scottish Health Service Centre Management Centre on behalf of the Scottish Executive, is part of the implementation of the recommendations in the Public Health Institute of Scotland report on the needs of those with autism spectrum disorders. This report, commissioned by Scottish ministers, highlighted the need to disseminate research findings to health and social care professionals so that they could consider and apply these in their own localities where they thought it appropriate to do so.

  The Scottish Executive ASD Reference Group set up a conference planning group of experts in the field to plan the day. The programme included psycho-social interventions and the development of cognitive behaviour therapy; dietary interventions; pharmacological treatments; genetic counselling; improved assessment and diagnosis, and the individualised treatment of medical disorders often associated with autism.

Autism

Carolyn Leckie (Central Scotland) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-12071 by Rhona Brankin on 24 December 2004 and in light of the conference on autism held in Aviemore in November 2005, how many (a) parents of autistic children and (b) delegates in total attended the conference.

Lewis Macdonald: In total 190 delegates attended, of whom 25 identified themselves as parents or carers of children with autism spectrum disorders.

Autism

Carolyn Leckie (Central Scotland) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-12071 by Rhona Brankin on 24 December 2004 and in light of the conference on autism held in Aviemore in November 2005, what the total cost to the taxpayer was of the conference and how many delegates were in receipt of complimentary (a) travel and (b) overnight accommodation.

Lewis Macdonald: The convention co-ordinator has indicated that the total cost of the conference will be £23,000 which is an average of £120 per delegate. In addition to the guest speakers, 10 parents and carers received complimentary travel and nine received complimentary accommodation. Other delegates paid their own travel and accommodation.

Autism

Carolyn Leckie (Central Scotland) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-12071 by Rhona Brankin on 24 December 2004 and in light of the conference on autism held in Aviemore in November 2005, how many (a) gastroenterologists and (b) immunologists were invited to speak at and/or attend the conference.

Lewis Macdonald: Invitations to the conference were distributed widely to health professionals; 97 of the delegates were from health professions. It is not possible to give a precise breakdown of the specialisms of those professionals who were invited to attend. Whilst a prominent immunologist was invited to speak, he had to withdraw at the last minute. However, a full conference report will be issued which will include sources of information on immunology to address this gap.

Buildings

Mr David Davidson (North East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what additional burdens will be placed on local authorities by the EU Energy Performance of Buildings Directive and how these will be paid for.

Johann Lamont: I have asked Dr. Paul Stollard, Chief Executive of the Scottish Building Standards Agency (SBSA), to answer. His response is as follows:

  It is not possible to identify all the likely burdens imposed on local authorities as a consequence of the EU Energy Performance of Buildings Directive, as each authority will deal with the challenges imposed by the Directive in a different way.

  However, the readily identifiable issues for the local authority building stock are:

  
For housing there will be an obligation to provide energy performance certificates when dwellings are sold or rented out.
Large public buildings, over 1000m2 floor area will need to display an energy performance certificate.
Air-conditioned buildings will need to have systems that are greater than 12kW inspected on a regular basis.
The local authorities will fund these obligations.


  The issues for local authorities in their verification and enforcement role for directive matters that are addressed directly through the building standards system are likely to be:

  
The methodology based system of compliance with the energy standards for new buildings.
The energy performance certification of existing housing through building standards assessments.
The recording of energy performance certificates on the building standards register.
Where non-compliance is identified regarding energy performance certification and air-conditioning inspection matters.


  In all but the last of the above points, there will be a fee payable to the local authority. For the last point, enforcement duties are funded by Grant Aided Expenditure.

Buildings

Mr David Davidson (North East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has had with COSLA in respect of the EU Energy Performance of Buildings Directive and what the outcomes were of these discussions.

Johann Lamont: I have asked Dr. Paul Stollard, Chief Executive of the Scottish Building Standards Agency (SBSA), to answer. His response is as follows:

  COSLA were invited to a meeting in September 2005 about certification of local authority housing, but they were unable to attend. A meeting was held in early January 2006. Representatives from COSLA, the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations and Communities Scotland were present. The objective of this meeting was to make a start on developing a strategy that should ease the burden of domestic energy performance certification for both local authorities and registered social landlords. Further meetings will be held in due course.

Buildings

Mr David Davidson (North East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what new grant schemes will be put in place to assist compliance with the EU Energy Performance of Buildings Directive.

Johann Lamont: I have asked Dr. Paul Stollard, Chief Executive of the Scottish Building Standards Agency, to answer. His response is as follows:

  There is no intention to introduce grant schemes to assist compliance with this directive.

Buildings

Mr David Davidson (North East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many new inspectors will be needed to implement the EU Energy Performance of Buildings Directive.

Johann Lamont: I have asked Dr. Paul Stollard, Chief Executive of the Scottish Building Standards Agency, to answer. His response is as follows:

  It is considered unlikely that the directive will create many "new inspectors" per se. It is more likely that existing construction and property professionals will subsume the work created by the directive as a supplementary part of their existing business. The result of this could be that more persons embark on a career in property and construction. In view of this, reliable quantification of new property and construction professionals is near impossible as this will depend on how much directive work is subsumed by each business.

Buildings

Mr David Davidson (North East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what the implementation period will be for the EU Energy Performance of Buildings Directive.

Johann Lamont: I have asked Dr. Paul Stollard, Chief Executive of the Scottish Building Standards Agency, to answer. His response is as follows:

  The intention is that:

  
Articles 3, 4, 5 and 6 are implemented in April 2006 to align with the rest of the UK.
Articles 7, 8 and 9 will be implemented on a roll-out basis as soon as it is feasible, leading to full implementation in 2009.

Buildings

Mr David Davidson (North East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether there will be any costs to householders for inspections under the EU Energy Performance of Buildings Directive.

Johann Lamont: I have asked Dr. Paul Stollard, Chief Executive of the Scottish Building Standards Agency, to answer. His response is as follows:

  There will be costs to be borne by building owners, when energy performance certification and inspection of air-conditioning is carried out. These owners may then choose to pass the cost on to prospective owners and tenants through sale and rental costs. This is a matter that is outwith the control of the Executive.

Buildings

Mr David Davidson (North East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether there will be any compulsion to improve ratings for building energy performance under the EU Energy Performance of Buildings Directive.

Mr David Davidson (North East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether there will be a period of grace before buildings have to improve energy performance ratings once the EU Energy Performance of Buildings Directive is in place.

Johann Lamont: I have asked Dr. Paul Stollard, Chief Executive of the Scottish Building Standards Agency, to answer. His response is as follows:

  There will be no obligation to improve the energy performance of a building as a result of the directive.

Buildings

Mr David Davidson (North East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what targets it will set under the EU Energy Performance of Buildings Directive.

Johann Lamont: I have asked Dr. Paul Stollard, Chief Executive of the Scottish Building Standards Agency, to answer. His response is as follows:

  The directive does not require any targets to be set and there is no intention to set any targets as a result of the directive.

Council Tax

Mr Adam Ingram (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how much was outstanding in total in council tax payments in East Lothian Council in each of the last three years.

George Lyon: The amount of council tax uncollected by East Lothian Council in the years 2002-03 to 2004-05 is given in the following table.

  

 Billing Year
Amount Uncollected(£000)


 2002-03
 1,684


 2003-04
 1,518


 2004-05
 1,383



  Source: East Lothian Council.

  Note: Figures are net of discounts, exemptions and surcharges; are before any amounts written off for bad or doubtful debt, and exclude council tax benefit and water and sewerage charges.

Council Tax

Mr Adam Ingram (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether an analysis of the use of sheriff officers to collect outstanding council tax payments has been carried out and, if so, whether it will place a copy of the analysis in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre.

George Lyon: A specific analysis addressing the use of sheriff officers to collect council tax has not been carried out and there are no current plans to do so.

Council Tax

Mr Adam Ingram (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what guidance has been issued to local authorities regarding the collection of outstanding council tax.

George Lyon: The Convention of Scottish Local Authorities and the Institute of Revenues Rating and Valuation publish a best practice guide on council tax, which sets out good practice in the billing and collection of council tax. In addition to this, the Scottish Executive has commissioned research into council tax collection in Scotland, the results of which are due to be published in the first part of 2006.

Council Tax

Mr Adam Ingram (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what guidance has been issued to local authority staff and, in particular, East Lothian Council staff in respect of advising people who have accumulated arrears in council tax.

George Lyon: The Executive encourages local authorities, as far as possible, to look at all options for recovering debt before taking enforcement action. We continue to support those who get into debt through the provision of funding to local authorities for front line money advice; by increasing our funding for the debt arrangement scheme, and through a range of financial literacy projects.

Council Tax

Mr Adam Ingram (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how much it has cost East Lothian Council to use the services of sheriff officers to collect outstanding council tax in each of the last three years.

George Lyon: This is a matter for East Lothian Council. The information requested is not held centrally.

Disabled People

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how much has been spent on improvement repair grants for disabled people in the (a) privately-rented and (b) owner-occupied sector in each of the last five years.

Malcolm Chisholm: The amount of private sector grant approved for improvements for people with disabilities is shown in the following table. Data on actual spend are not broken down by type of work.

  Amount of Approved Grant for Improvements for People with Disabilities: 2000-01 to 2004-05

  

 
 2000-01
 2001-02
 2002-03
 2003-04
 2004-05


 Owner-occupied
 9,285,000
 10,549,000
 11,407,000
 12,831,000
 15,474,000


 Private sector tenant
 49,000
 46,000
 67,000
 105,000
 445,000



  Source: IMP1B returns by local authorities to Scottish Executive Development Department Analytical Services Division (Housing Statistics).

  Notes:

  1. Prior to 2004-05, the category of "tenant" included a small number of housing association tenants.

  2. Figures have been rounded to the nearest thousand.

  3. The figures shown represent amounts approved for work identified by local authorities specifically as improvements for disabled. They do not include grants for more general improvements which may include elements of benefit to people with disabilities, such as improved accessibility.

  4. Figures from the Scottish Household Survey 2001 show that, 50% of households where a member has a limiting long-term illness or disability are owner-occupied, compared to 4% in the private rented sector.

Emergency Services

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive which ministers have held discussions with representatives of NHS Lanarkshire in respect of the potential closure of any consultant-led emergency service currently operating in Lanarkshire and whether it will place a record of any such discussions in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre.

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether discussions have taken place between NHS Lanarkshire and Scottish ministers regarding alternative proposals for the reorganisation of consultant-led emergency services in Lanarkshire to the ones published in the consultation document, A Picture of Health .

Lewis Macdonald: There have been no such discussions.

Environment

Dr Elaine Murray (Dumfries) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive when the levels of Cs-137 contamination from the Chernobyl accident were last measured and what the results were for the Eskdalemuir, Langholm and Lockerbie areas of Dumfries and Galloway.

Ross Finnie: This is an operational matter for the Scottish Environment Protection Agency, which regularly monitors environmental radioactivity in Scotland, including Caesium-137 derived from Chernobyl fall-out. Its results are published annually, in the joint publication Radioactivity in Food and the Environment , copies of which are held in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre. The most recent report was published in 2005 and gives results for 2004.

Environment

Shiona Baird (North East Scotland) (Green): To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it will take to ensure that the viability of Scottish companies that have invested heavily in recycling facilities in anticipation of the introduction of the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive is not compromised, in light of the delay in implementation of the directive announced by the Department of Trade and Industry.

Ross Finnie: The Scottish Executive shall continue to work with the Department of Trade and Industry on an effective implementation of the producer responsibility elements of the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive and to secure interim funding to local authorities for the treatment of hazardous WEEE at these recycling facilities.

Fair Trade

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-17123 by Patricia Ferguson on 17 June 2005, how many meetings of the group convened to progress Scotland to the status of Fair Trade Nation have been held since the inaugural meeting on 26 May 2005.

Patricia Ferguson: Unfortunately it has not been possible to arrange a subsequent meeting of the Cross Party Group on Fair Trade since the inaugural meeting on 26 May 2005. Although, a meeting has been arranged for 25 January, and work to progress the fair trade agenda in Scotland is on-going.

Fair Trade

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-17123 by Patricia Ferguson on 17 June 2005, what the outcomes are of the group’s considerations in respect of progressing Scotland’s status as a Fair Trade Nation and how to promote fair trade products in Scotland.

Patricia Ferguson: Scottish Executive has been considering how best we can take forward the fair trade agenda within Scotland and have been in contact with the Fairtrade Foundation and other relevant organisations. The outcomes and recommendations will be considered at the next meeting of the Cross Party Group on Fair Trade.

General Medical Services

Mr Jim Wallace (Orkney) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-20766 by Mr Andy Kerr on 29 November 2005, what the actual level was of funding for General Medical Services in Orkney in 2003-04.

Mr Andy Kerr: The actual level of funding for General Medical Services (GMS) in Orkney in 2003-04 was £3.9 million which exceeds the indicative figure of £2.7 million as quoted in the answer to question S2W-20766 on 29 November 2005. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search .

  The difference of £1.2 million is the additional resource NHS Orkney spent on non-discretionary expenditure which was fully funded by the Scottish Executive under the former GMS Contract.

Health

Alasdair Morgan (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether paracetamol co-formulations containing acetylcysteine antidote are available in Scotland.

Mr Andy Kerr: There are no products on the UK market containing paracetamol and acetylcysteine.

Health

Alasdair Morgan (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the estimated annual cost would be to the NHS of prescribing paracetamol co-formulations with acetylsteine rather than paracetamol formulations without any antidote.

Mr Andy Kerr: This information is not available. There are no products on the UK market containing paracetamol and acetylcysteine.

Health

Alasdair Morgan (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what estimate it has made of the annual cost to the NHS of treatment of patients suffering as a result of paracetamol overdose.

Mr Andy Kerr: The information requested is not available centrally.

Health

Mrs Nanette Milne (North East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-6048 by Mr Tom McCabe on 3 March 2004, how much the healthy living line cost to run in each month since January 2004.

Mr Andy Kerr: The operational costs for the healthy living line from 1 January 2004 to 31 December 2005 are presented in the following table. As the healthy living line is an integral part of NHS 24 there are costs which cannot be identified separately, for example, staff training, management time, infrastructure costs.

  

 2004
 2005


 January
£78,525*
 January
£6,536


 February
£9,814
 February
£6,293


 March
£10,900
 March
£5,335


 April
£4,481
 April
£5,500


 May
£6,015
 May
£5,249


 June
£6,171
 June
£4,324


 July
£6,468
 July
£7,525


 August
£6,184
 August
£3,980


 September
£6,374
 September
£5,569


 October
£6,665
 October
£6,075


 November
£6,482
 November
£6,389


 December
£4,340
 December
£4,996



  Note: *The January 2004 costs includes £69,470 of transfer costs as the line was transferred from Essentia to NHS 24 on 6 January 2004.

Historic Monuments

Derek Brownlee (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what additional activities the increase in the budget of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland between 2002-03 and 2007-08 has enabled, or will enable.

Patricia Ferguson: As one of its core functions, the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland maintains the National Monuments Record of Scotland, our national archive of the built environment. The rapid growth of this archive, and the improvement of public access to it, have necessitated continuing investment over this period which will culminate in capital funding of £2 million in 2006-07 and £10 million in 2007-08 for new accommodation for the archive.

Housing

Tricia Marwick (Mid Scotland and Fife) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many properties in (a) registered social landlord and (b) local authority housing stock currently fall below the Scottish Housing Quality Standard and how much it estimates the cost will be of bringing such properties up to the necessary standard by its 2015 deadline.

Malcolm Chisholm: The Scottish House Condition Survey report Information on Scottish Housing Quality Standard failure rates and support for secondary analysis July 2004, estimated the number of properties currently failing the Scottish Housing Quality Standard in the social rented sector to be 456,000 (310,00 public sector and 146,000 registered social landlord).

  Social Landlords in Scotland have also prepared Scottish Housing Quality Standard Delivery plans to show how they will achieve the standard by 2015, these plans will provide further up-to-date detail on numbers and costs and are currently being assessed and validated by Communities Scotland.

International Development

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-17131 by Patricia Ferguson on 16 June 2005, which local authorities have submitted a concept note for funding from the International Development Fund.

Patricia Ferguson: To date, no local authorities have submitted concept notes for funding from the International Development Fund. Further funding rounds will be held in 2006 and 2007, to which local authorities are welcome to apply.

International Development

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-16849 by Patricia Ferguson on 8 June 2005, when details of expenditure from the International Development Fund budget will be published on the Executive’s website.

Patricia Ferguson: Details of awards made from the first round of the international development main grants scheme are available on the Scottish Executive website: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/News/Releases/2005/11/04144130

  The International Development web pages are currently being updated to include details of other funding awards.

Myalgic Encephalomyelitis

Alex Fergusson (Galloway and Upper Nithsdale) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is within its responsibilities to distribute Action for ME’s Guidance on the management of CFS/M.E and, if so, whether it has done so.

Lewis Macdonald: The Executive has no responsibility to distribute guidance produced by voluntary organisations, but may do so in exceptional circumstances. Action for ME’s existing guidance was aimed at English GPs and grant-funded by the UK Department of Health. The Executive has grant-funded Action for ME to produce guidance suitable for Scotland. This work is now nearing completion. The Executive will facilitate the distribution of the guidance in due course. Decisions on the treatment of individual cases will remain a matter of clinical judgement, in consultation with the patient.

NHS Finance

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the statement by the Minister for Health and Community Care in the debate on future arrangements for health services in the Argyll and Clyde area that "the key requirement now is for the outgoing board and the two successor boards to work closely together to agree realistic financial plans for 2006-07 and 2007-08 that will secure the return to financial stability, which we need. We are prepared to consider the case for transitional financial assistance only once that planning task has been demonstrated to be complete and robust." ( Official Report c. 21623), whether these plans have to be submitted by a certain date or deadline and, if so, what that date is and whether the plans will be made public; how the additional funding of £80 million to write off the accumulated deficit of NHS Argyll and Clyde was calculated, and whether the Minister for Health and Community Care will make a statement to the Parliament once the reports have been received, where MSPs will have the opportunity of asking questions.

Mr Andy Kerr: NHS Argyll and Clyde, in line with all NHS boards, is expected to agree a local delivery plan (LDP), including a five year strategic financial plan, with the Health Department by the end of March 2006. The plan will be allocated between the two successor boards, NHS Greater Glasgow and Highland, and both boards will be required to approve the plan with NHS Argyll and Clyde. Given that LDP’s are approved by NHS boards, they will be made available publicly.

  With regard to the calculation of the £80 million funding, I can confirm that this was based on NHS Argyll and Clyde’s revised financial plan as submitted by the board in July 2005. The plan demonstrated a maximum accumulated deficit of £80 million (for financial year 2006-07) with the board returning to in-year financial balance thereafter. The sum was therefore expected to cover all deficits incurred by the board and provide a clean slate to the successor boards.

  I do not propose making a statement to Parliament regarding local delivery plans.

NHS Finance

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will respond to the request by Shona Robison MSP during the debate on future arrangements for health services in the Argyll and Clyde area for a guarantee that the Minister for Health and Community Care will formally review the sufficiency of the financial settlement and how services are working for patients a year after the new arrangements come into force ( Official Report c. 21626).

Mr Andy Kerr: As outlined in the debate in Parliament regarding the future arrangements for health services in the Argyll and Clyde area, the area’s financial resources will be allocated to the successor boards using the Arbuthnott formula. The formula ensures that funds are distributed fairly on the basis of relative health care needs of each board area and fully recognises the influence of remoteness and deprivation. This will ensure the successor boards are given their fair share of the resources available nationally.

  NHS Greater Glasgow and Highland intend to monitor both the financial and service impact of inheriting the former Argyll and Clyde area separately over the first few years in order to review progress. The Health Department will keep in regular contact with the successor boards regarding the impact of inheriting the former NHS Argyll and Clyde area, monitoring the situation closely. I do not propose carrying out a formal review as requested by Shona Robison.

National Health Service

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many respondents informed the initial feedback on each of the three options relating to emergency care detailed in the board’s briefing issued on 4 November 2005 and how these respondents’ views were gathered.

Lewis Macdonald: This is a matter for NHS Lanarkshire.

National Health Service

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive which ministers held discussions with representatives of NHS Lanarkshire in respect of the release of the consultation document, A Picture of Health, published in November 2004, and whether it will place a record of any such discussions in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre.

Lewis Macdonald: There have been no such discussions between ministers and NHS Lanarkshire. NHS Lanarkshire has informed me that they have routine discussions on a range of constituency matters with relevant MSPs, including Mr Jack McConnell MSP and Mr Andy Kerr MSP. Further information on the conduct of those meetings is a matter for NHS Lanarkshire.

Pensions

Carolyn Leckie (Central Scotland) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will take separate legal advice with regard to the abolition of Rule 85 of the local government pension scheme, in light of conflicting legal advice reported by the UK Government, COSLA and UNISON.

Mr Tom McCabe: The Scottish Executive consulted on proposals for the amendment of the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) in Scotland in September 2004. The proposals were intended to deal with the sustainability and affordability of the scheme as part of the on-going development of the LGPS and also to ensure that the scheme complied with EC Employment Directive 2000/78/EC, which establishes a general framework for equal treatment in employment and occupation.

  The Rule of 85 allows members of the LGPS to access full pension if they leave employment at age 60 or more but before the scheme’s normal retirement age of 65, if their age and length of service (including any period since leaving local government employment) total at least 85.

  The Minister for Local Government in England and Wales announced, on 2 December 2005, that the UK Government had concluded that the Rule of 85 is to be removed from 1 October 2006 by amendments to the scheme regulations in England and Wales. The announcement stated that this was necessary in order to implement the terms of the EC Directive.

  The Scottish Executive has given careful consideration to the legal opinion presented by COSLA on the question of the removal of the Rule of 85 from the Local Government Pension Scheme in Scotland and also that presented to the UK Government by UNISON. The Executive has concluded that retaining the rule would be incompatible with the Directive on age discrimination and that therefore it will require to be removed from the Local Government Pension Scheme with effect from October this year, in accordance with the UK Government’s timetable for implementing the Directive.

  The Executive therefore intends that the Rule of 85 will be removed with effect from 1 October 2006 by amending the Local Government Pension Scheme (Scotland) Regulations 1998 in order to ensure compliance with the EC Directive and help maintain the sustainability and affordability of the Scottish scheme. Where it can be objectively justified consideration will be given to providing transitional protection to those existing scheme members who might have qualified to receive an unreduced early pension under the rule if it was not removed, and who may not have sufficient time to make alternative savings plans for their retirement. As was set out in the Executive’s consultation paper in September 2004, it is proposed that protection be provided to those existing scheme members who would satisfy the current Rule of 85 and attain age 60 by 31 March 2013. However, during the period of consultation the Executive will wish to discuss such proposals further with representatives of the local employers and unions representing LGPS members.

  The Executive will prepare draft Regulations to implement the removal of the rule and publish these for consultation shortly.

Planning

Murray Tosh (West of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the costs of the additional enforcement powers and duties for local authorities to be introduced by the proposed Planning Bill will fall on local authorities, or whether planning fees will be adjusted to recover all or part of such additional costs; and, if it is the latter, to what extent such costs will be recovered through a general increase in fees and to what extent they will be recovered through specific charges to developers whose actions require enforcement.

Malcolm Chisholm: It is for individual planning authorities to determine the allocation of resources for planning enforcement within their overall planning budgets. We intend to publish further research, currently under way, into local authorities’ resourcing requirements in light of different proposals for planning modernisation. The issue of fees will be assessed in light of this research, as will the scope for local authorities to re-prioritise funding allocated to the different planning functions.

Planning

Murray Tosh (West of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how it will enforce the statutory duty it proposes to place on local authorities in the forthcoming Planning Bill to update their development plans every five years.

Johann Lamont: We will work in partnership with planning authorities to deliver the package of reforms and to support authorities where difficulties arise. Where serious failures occur, ministers will have powers in the Planning Bill to request information from planning authorities on the operation of their functions and to direct an audit of those functions with a clear process for making and following up on recommendations. Ministers will retain existing powers to take over from an authority the function of preparing a plan, although these will only be used where other measures have failed.

Planning

Murray Tosh (West of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what provision its proposed Planning Bill will make for defining the boundaries of the proposed city regions; what role Scottish ministers and the Parliament will have in defining such regions, and what provision it proposes for resolving disagreements between the city planning regions and the relevant councils in respect of the boundaries of the city regions.

Johann Lamont: Provisions relating to the determination of boundaries for strategic development plan areas are included in sections 4, 5 and 6 of the Planning etc. (Scotland) Bill, which was introduced in December. Section 4 empowers ministers to designate a group of planning authorities as a "strategic development planning authority" with the responsibility of jointly preparing a strategic development plan. Section 5 requires the strategic development planning authority to submit to ministers proposals for establishing the boundary for the strategic development plan area. Section 5 provides that ministers may determine the boundary of the strategic development plan area on the basis of the planning authority’s proposals or determine any other boundary as they think fit. Section 6 provides for the re-determination of the boundary of a strategic development plan area upon a material change of circumstances.

Roads

Alex Fergusson (Galloway and Upper Nithsdale) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it still intends to provide safe overtaking opportunities in the vicinity of Polquhirter, Brackenhill, Gateside and Cample within the projected 15-year period from October 1996, as referred to in paragraph 3 of the October 1996 A76 Route Action Plan Strategy, in addition to the scheme at Glenairlie already included in the Executive’s trunk roads programme.

Tavish Scott: I refer to the parliamentary debate on the A76 on 7 December 2005 in which I said that the current trunk road programme is full, with more than 40 major projects that will serve communities and users throughout Scotland, including the A76 Glenairlie scheme. In 2006 we will start work on the strategic projects review, which will provide an opportunity to consider the major public transport and road transport priorities for the future. The review will take into account issues of national or strategic importance that affect the trunk road network throughout Scotland, including the trunk road network in south-west Scotland. The A76 will be part of that review.

Roads

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-21290 by Tavish Scott on 15 December 2005, what areas have been identifed that will experience an adverse effect on air quality as a result of the upgrade of the A80 to full motorway status.

Tavish Scott: In respect of the online section between Mollinsburn and Haggs the majority of air quality impacts will be insignificant. The predicted impacts of the whole scheme are shown in Section 14 of the Environmental Statement (the Air Quality section) which is available on the scheme website at http://www.m80steppstohaggs.com .